We Will Rock You
by Unknown-de-Mordor
Summary: Despite living in the same neighborhood and going to the same schools, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke had never ended up in the same social circle. Naruto couldn't have known that Sasuke could sing like a young Freddie Mercury. So forgive him if he was going to woo this guy for the love of Rock 'n Roll. A Queen-inspired Americanized high-school AU.


**Title:** We Will Rock You

 **Full summary:** Uzumaki Naruto had never given much thought to Uchiha Sasuke. Despite living in the same neighborhood and going to the same schools all their lives, they never ended up in the same social circle. Naruto had always been with the nerds, the awkwards, the troublemakers, while Sasuke waltzed within a more popular stratum. Naruto couldn't have known that Sasuke could sing like a young Freddie Mercury belting out a slightly more broken and deranged rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody.

So forgive him if he was going to go out of his way to woo this guy for the love of Rock 'n Roll.

An Americanized high-school AU where everyone comes together for a Queen tribute band.

 **A/N:** So, this plot bunny suddenly attacked me about three days ago and wouldn't let go until I wrote it down. Mainly a start of Naru&Sasu friendship but can also be read as something more if you squint. (But, hey, don't judge people on which lens they want to use.)

All characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi. All the lyrics belonged to Queen. The greatest chapter of classic rock belongs to history but thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone who has made it happened.

Also on AO3

/***/

The first time Naruto heard _Bohemian Rhapsody_ , he had just turned ten. It had been his birthday, and Jiraiya had decided to gift him with his late father's vinyl collection. He didn't know what the man intended for a ten-year-old to do with, what had been then, an outdated and alien technology, but the song itself had stuck. Naruto had learned to use the record player pretty much that week and soon his little basement kingdom was filled with ballads and anthems and metals.

Owning the biggest vinyl collection for a ten-year-old hadn't made Naruto famous in school. After all, no ten-year-old had any idea what a vinyl was or who the heck was Freddie Mercury. Any conversation he had tried to strike about the awesomeness of Queen, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd pretty much ended with an odd look from his classmate, unless the said classmate was Akimichi Chouji who was basically raised on rock ballads by his dad. Naruto's friendship with Chouji blossomed from the moment that they had realized they shared the vocabularies of classic rock. Naruto had gained a group of friends through the chubby boy, and he had been happy, very happy.

Still, rock wasn't a great topic of conversation, not even in middle school when everyone and their brother had discovered music because Queen wasn't cool with young people anymore, hadn't been for decades now. And the rock music that existed didn't quite pack the punch Naruto had come to adore. Guitar riff was a thing of the past, and Freddie's theatrical vocal seemed to belong only on Broadway. In other words, Naruto's sound was old and out of fashion. And, yes, the guy who had dared say that to his face had gotten a bloody nose just before their sorry attempt of a rock band broke up. It had suited him right.

Naruto hadn't tried to join a band again in high school. He knew his sound didn't belong, like he generally didn't quite belong. Teachers didn't typically like him because he wasn't particularly astute or studious. His classmate thought he was more weird than cool.

The person who didn't think so was still Chouji, despite the fact he was turning away from classic rock, not that Naruto begrudged him. But classic rock was Naruto's religion and he would not lose faith. The two of them still hang out, and Chouji would occasionally shanghaied Naruto into going to social events with him in case the people there were shallow and boring. More than once did they resorted to some really nerdy music conversation just so nobody would come bother them.

This was also one of those occasions. Ino, Chouji's childhood friend, invited them over to the drama club's casting party at the beginning of the school year. They didn't really know anyone in the club aside from her, and the prospect of listening to a long string of show tunes sang on top of lousy backing track in a dingy karaoke shop wasn't all that appealing, they went anyway when Ino promised them free food. Chouji never turned down free food. Neither did Naruto.

They were just relaxing, drink soda and eating nachos, when suddenly Suigetsu, the newly casted leading man of the production, stood up on the sofa. "Guys! Quiet!" he shouted. The chatter went on until the guy lifted his half-filled cola glass and hit it with a fork. "Quiet, please!" The room came to a standstill. Everyone's attention was on him. Suigetsu grinned. "You know somebody lost a bet today, right?" Naruto could hear cheers coming all around. "He said, and I quote, 'A shark-faced like you don't hold a chance,' and look at me now, motherfucker!" The room cheered again as Suigetsu pointed to a raven-haired boy in the crowd. "Now somebody has to uphold his end of the bargain and give us a song!"

The room erupted into 'Sasuke! Sasuke!' as Suigetsu motioned his friend to get up. Naruto didn't know Sasuke, not personally. He had heard of him from time to time since primary school. Sasuke was a top student before he became the preteen heartthrob. Teachers loved him. Girls adored him and his hair. That was until Sasuke came out as gay in Grade 9 with his now famous line 'Unless you have a dick and you're not a dick, leave me alone'. He proceeded to prove the point by joining the drama club and debuting in their school's musical production.

Naruto was kind of glad that now-legendary coming-out didn't knock Sasuke right down to the bottom of the social ladder. Some dicks did put him down, but his friends prevailed. Suigetsu was one of them, and Karin was another. The two of them pulled him up to the front. Sasuke sulked as Suigetsu went through the menu, glee on his face.

Naruto cringed as he saw what was selected: _Bohemian Rhapsody._

The terrible eight-bit percussion came from the speaker as Suigetsu provided the intro, and Naruto exchanged a look of despair with Chouji. This was going to be the longest, most torturous, six minutes of his fucking life.

That was until Sasuke's voice came through, remorseful and despondent.

"Mama, just killed a man.  
Put a gun against his head.  
Pulled my trigger now he's dead."

Maybe it was his theater background, but Sasuke's voice was full of emotion coiling under the smooth tenor. There was a power in his voice, a control that rivaled the master himself. And Naruto's hair stood on end.

"Mama, life had just begun.  
But now I've gone and thrown it all away."

Naruto dug his fingers into the armrest out of sheer surprise, because that wasn't how Freddie had sung that part, and Naruto would know. Freddie was smooth and steady before the explosive unraveling. Sasuke had edges and crevasses, had hidden anger. This was _Bohemian Rhapsody_ after the advent of grunge and alternative written for the angry, angst-filled teens. It was innocence, ignorance, and darkness rolled into one, and - just as Sasuke turned around to his audience, belting out how he wished he had never been born - Naruto thought he might have fallen in love.

/***/

And by falling in love, he meant artistically.

He had a rush of sensations through his body as he listened to Sasuke's rendition of his favorite song. The rush didn't die down for hours afterward, just like when Freddie's voice had spoken to him for the first time. All he had wanted back then was to hear the next thing, getting the next rush, except this time the rush wasn't quite complete because the backing track had been so horrendous. The parts that were supposed to be Brian May's solo was left out altogether. It was jarring.

So, as angry as he was, the first thing he did when he came home was going to his room downstairs, pulled out his electric guitar, and did the Brian May's riff for himself. And Naruto would know how to do it. Brian was the god who made the lanky twelve-year-old boy with no music training picked up an instrument. Naruto knew all of Brian's lines by heart, could probably do them in his sleep. He had never played it within hearing range of anyone except Jiraiya, but, as his fingers flown on the elegant neck of his guitar, he knew he had little choice now. He was terrified, but the riff was incomplete and unsatisfying on its own. He had played this guitar for years, and he knew now why he could never make it sing or cry for him. His guitar needed a partner, and it had already decided on who.

/***/

The next morning, he packed his guitar and took it to school.

People stared at him for carrying that huge bag on his shoulder. People stared even more when he waltzed up to Sasuke's table at lunch break with the bag and said, "I'd like to talk to you alone."

The entire cafeteria was dead silent as Sasuke looked him up and down, annoyed that his lunch had been interrupted. "Fine," said the raven, putting whatever he was eating away before getting up. "Lead on."

Naruto nodded, turned, and walked out of the cafeteria. He must have looked as cool as a cucumber, but in reality he was sweating underneath his shirt. What the fuck did he just do? Sasuke looked so pissed. Was he going to beat the shit out of Naruto out of everybody's sight?

He was internally screaming even as they reached the empty band room and walked in. Naruto had helped Kakashi organize this place during the short time he tried for the band, so he knew there was an old amp hidden away in the back of the percussions. He pulled the dusty box out as Sasuke unceremoniously sat down on an unfolded chair. "So what the hell do you want to talk about?" he said, annoyance dripping from his voice, but Naruto just put his guitar bag down and unzipped it. Suddenly, he was very nervous of taking his instrument out. It wasn't a Gibson or a Fender, just the cheapest shit he could afford after two years of saving up his pocket money. He couldn't impress anyone with this. What the hell was he thinking?

Even so, he plugged it in and began playing the familiar tune of _Bohemian Rhapsody._ Sasuke's eyebrow went up, looking confused as Naruto didn't do much aside from moving from chord to chord.

And then the moment of truth came. Naruto gritted his teeth and let his guitar sing its first deep twang. It didn't take long until he was at a solo, and he force himself to concentrate on the music in his head instead of Sasuke's response. He was filling in the gap that was supposed to be for the piano and echoed some of the vocal. It didn't take long for him to be completely lost in the music, even forgetting that Sasuke was there. For a moment, the music was his master, and he did his best to fulfill its vision.

When he came out of it and finally looked up he found not just Sasuke staring dumbfounded at him but Suigetsu, Karin, Chouji, and Ino as well.

"Wow," said Chouji before he started clapping like mad, "I didn't know you can play so well. How come you never tell me?"

How? Naruto scratched the back of his neck. He kind of forgot to mention it?

"That's some killer skill," said Suigetsu with a wide grin on his face. "What do you say, Sasuke?"

Naruto took a look at Sasuke and knew he had failed to communicate anything meaningful. Well, in hindsight, it was his fault. He wanted so badly to inspire something in the other boy in the same way that Sasuke's voice had inspired him, but, hell, not everybody spoke in riffs and chords. What the fuck was he thinking?

Then Sasuke said, "Play it again from the top."

Naruto blinked, but he did as told. Even though he knew it was hard to go wrong with the amount of practice he had, he was still nervous about having an audience. He could only hope that his hand wouldn't be shaking so much that the song went out of tune. Just as his throat was turning dry, the raven-haired boy came to stand in front of him, blocking out everyone else. Naruto swallowed hard as he tried not to think of the proximity or the reason why Sasuke might want to stand so close. He had to focus on the music and just the music.

And then, Sasuke sang.

Suddenly, everything shifted - his playing, Sasuke's voice, the world. There wasn't the drama and anguish so palpable in Sasuke's previous rendition. He sounded more like Freddie now, more at peace with the consequence rather than angry but still with regrets. And Naruto knees nearly buckled at how sweet Sasuke's voice was without the amplifier and not even two feet away. It sounded so private, like Sasuke was singing just for him.

"Too late, my time has come.  
Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time.  
Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go.  
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth."

Did Sasuke's voice went that high or go down that low the last time? He didn't remember. But it certainly made his fingers do things he hadn't thought of before. His guitar was singing now, and he didn't want anything more than to keep going. He didn't want this to stop.

"Oi, lunch break's over," came a voice from the door that sent Naruto into a screeching halt. At the door was Kakashi with his ridiculous flu mask. "The next class in coming in, so, you all, scarper!"

They did pretty much that. Naruto unplugged the guitar, put it back in the bag, and rushed out the door. What he didn't expect was for Sasuke to be waiting for him. "Where do you live?"

Naruto blinked. He gave his street address.

"Hmm, I'm five blocks away. Can I come over this evening?"

Naruto's brain basically did a summersault and landed on its neck. "What?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You're very articulate, aren't you?"

Naruto let out a breath. "Bastard."

He didn't expect Sasuke to smirk at him. "When?"

Naruto blinked again.

"When's the good time for me to come over."

/***/

So yeah, Sasuke basically invited himself over to Naruto's place, which freaked him out big time. Naruto never had anyone over. His room was a mess. He spent the entire evening throwing out the trash, stuffing his clothes into the closet, and disinfecting every available surface. He vacuumed the floor but only where he could see. This would have to do.

The whole commotion prompted Jiraiya to ask him if he'd be having a date coming over and if he had condoms and lube at the ready. Naruto was shouting something about perverted old men when the front door rang. He quickly went over to open the door and dragged the raven boy downstairs before Jiraiya could make a comment about anal sex. He knew it was coming by the grin his godfather was giving him the moment he realized Sasuke was a guy. Naruto was not going to let that happen.

"Wasn't that a bit rude?" Sasuke said once they reached Naruto's room, and Naruto proceeded to lock them in. "I didn't even get to say hi to your dad."

"Foster dad," Naruto corrected him then realized that aside from the uncomfortable hand-me-down office chair at his desk he had nothing else for Sasuke to sit on. "Umm, you can sit on the bed if you want."

Sasuke did exactly that. "So," he began as he placed two hands behind him and sat like he owned the thing, "What else do you play?"

Naruto blinked. He started to notice that he did this very often when Sasuke talked to him. "Huh?"

Again, Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You don't just play _Bohemian Rhapsody_ , do you?"

Of course, Naruto played loads of things, mostly classic rock, though. "Mmm, I can play Queen's and some Pink Floyd's," he said. And the moment his mouth opened, shit started to come out. "Roger Waters's lyrics is really amazing, and David Gilmour's awesome with his guitar. I also like how they're kind of...subdued? Like, Queen's are huge, loud, and symphonic, right? And Pink Floyd's are more stripped down? I like Led Zeppelin, too. Jimmy Page's awesome, but Robert Plant's voice isn't really my type."

Sasuke's eyebrow went up a little. "You have a voice type?"

Naruto flushed red. "It's not like that!"

The raven boy didn't seem bothered. "Play me something." Naruto frowned at him. Entitled dick.

But then he realized that Sasuke's body language had changed. He wasn't leaning backward anymore but forward, his arms resting on his knees and his eyes wide in what almost looked like excitement. "Umm, well, there's this song that, umm, I've been trying to cover since forever. I love it a lot, but the ending in the original just tapers off and I find that just completely unsatisfying." He took a deep breath and adjusted his pose. "It's called _Who Wants To Live Forever_."

He didn't need to look up the notes. He had basically spent months rearranging the orchestra-heavy piece for his guitar. He tried a millions way to find one that would work. He knew it in his bones exactly how he wanted it to sound. The only reason he couldn't really complete the arrangement, aside from that ending, was because he couldn't sing like Freddie. This song needed a voice that was powerful enough to sustain its subdued melody and deliver a punch packed with emotions. Naruto just couldn't do that, not with his voice.

He was going to goddamn try, though.

"There's no time for us.  
There's no place for us.  
What is this thing that builds our dreams, yet slips away from us.  
Who wants to live forever?  
Who wants to live forever?"

He tried to ignore the fact that Sasuke's eyes had just gotten bigger and his jaw a little slack. He concentrated on the music.

"There's no chance for us.  
It's all decided for us.  
This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us.  
Who wants to live forever?  
Who dares to love forever, when love must die?"

Something in the back of his head nagged at him that this wasn't how these lines were supposed to be delivered. Still, he was confident with his guitar. He could do justice to the solo at least.

"But touch my tears with your lips.  
Touch my world with your fingertips.  
And we can have forever.  
And we can love forever.  
Forever is our today."

Well, now came the part Naruto still couldn't figure out what best to do - the ending, short and open-ended like Freddie's own untimely death. He played it like the original, just to show Sasuke what he had been talking about. It left him as frustrated as always, but this would have to do for now.

The sounded of his guitar tapered off. Seconds passed, and Sasuke still said nothing. He just stared at Naruto.

Finally, "You can sing."

Naruto shrugged. "Not as well as you, though. I don't have the voice."

Sasuke suddenly got up and stalked over to where Naruto stood, nearly knocking him backward. "It's _not_ about the voice, idiot. You can convey emotions no matter how your voice sounds like. But I get it. It's not what you have in mind for that song." Then he stepped back. "When's your last class tomorrow?"

"Uh, four?"

"Bring your guitar to the drama club at six thirty. We should be done with reading through the script by then." Then Sasuke turned to the door and walked out. "See you tomorrow."

The door to his room slammed shut, and the only word coming out of Naruto's mouth was "Prick."

/***/

Still, Naruto took his guitar to school again the next day. He didn't know why he listened to that bastard. Sasuke might have a voice made in heaven, but, jeez, that guy was such a douchebag.

He showed up at the drama club at six thirty with Kakashi's amplifier in tow to a surprisingly crowded room. It looked almost like some drama club members decided to hang around and brought along their friends. Suigetsu and Karin were hanging out with their football player friend, Juugo. Chouji was standing next to Ino, waving at him as he got in. "The man of the hour is here," his friend announced. Naruto just blinked.

Sasuke turned to him then. The guy was sitting on an unfolded chair with his feet on another chair and a laptop on his stretched out legs, the earphone plugged in. He looked like he was in the middle of listening to something. "You're here," he said.

Naruto huffed as he rolled the amp up to the other boy. "You told me to."

"Good," he said, stopped whatever was playing on his computer, and stood up. "Can you play _Who Wants to Live Forever_ from the top?"

Naruto glared at him, plugged in the amp and the guitar, and started the first chord. The commotion in the room suddenly died down, and Naruto felt very nervous.

Sasuke stopped him, though. "Why aren't you singing?"

Naruto flushed red. "Not here," he muttered. God, he was not going to humiliate himself with his poor imitation of Freddie in front of all these people.

"Just the Brian May's part," Sasuke said. "I'll sing Freddie's."

Naruto frowned. "Do you even know the lyrics?"

"I've studied up. I'm an actor, Uzumaki. I _can_ remember my lines."

Naruto huffed but started again from the top. The room seemed even quieter now that he started to sing. He just hoped at that point that Sasuke wasn't going to stand him up.

And he didn't. Sasuke's voice chimed in just as Freddie's line started with all the power and emotion Naruto had expected. Even without the microphone, Sasuke's voice rang through the room, like the voice of a fallen angel defying god. And Naruto was weak in the knees. He might really have a voice type, it seemed, and Sasuke's voice was totally his drug right now.

Then, just as he finished his solo and they were going into the finale, Sasuke raised his hand, and suddenly the room was filled with voices. Sasuke's voice was still dominating, leading the chorus, as the end of the song was elevated beyond anything Naruto could ever imagine by himself. Before he knew it, he was raising his voice, too, singing along with everyone else in the room.

"Who wants to live forever?  
Who wants to live forever?  
Forever is our today,  
Who waits forever anyway?  
Who wants to live forever?  
Who wants to live forever?"

They couldn't really find the way down, so the song kind of disintegrated into claps and cheers afterwards, but Naruto had never felt so happy at the end of a piece before. Everyone singing together was so beautiful. It was, in all its imperfection, utterly perfect.

The mood was totally killed when he heard a voice droning from the door. "Ah, man. You guys started without us."

And there stood Shikamaru, Chouji's other best friend, and right beside him was Shino, the weird bug guy from Naruto's middle school. The two of them had a large black box between them.

Sasuke snorted. "You guys took too long to pick up the synth."

Shikamura huffed. "A synth is _heavy_ , Uchiha."

"Leave it in the band room next time," said Kakashi. Naruto had no idea when their band teacher snugged in. Right beside him was a pink-haired girl who made Naruto's hands sweat. Fuck, it was Sakura, Naruto's middle-school crush and the sole reason he had worked up the courage to try the band. What was she doing here? "Any idea for the percussion?" Kakashi asked. Sakura nodded.

"Depending on the intended effect, I can think of a few." Of course, Sakura was the band's senior drummer now. If Kakashi got dragged into this, which clearly he was, then she was going to get dragged into it, too.

But what was _this_? Naruto hadn't thought of anything more than sharing his love for rock with Sasuke. Then suddenly everyone was in it, too. Shikamaru was setting up the keyboard with the synthesizer. Sakura left for her drum set. People were talking excitedly around him, but Naruto felt lightheaded. He had to sit down before he passed out.

"What wrong?" asked Sasuke. There was confusion in his voice. "You don't look happy."

"No, I'm happy," Naruto replied. "Just really overwhelmed right now."

Queen had been his secret love for ages, a love he thought no one shared. Right now, with everyone in the room chatting excitedly about what they wanted to do, which part they could play in bringing the song together - and Naruto didn't even know half of these people - he thought he might cry.

"Hey," Sasuke muttered as he crouched down to Naruto's eye-level. He looked concerned. "Do you want to take a break? Get some fresh air?"

"I'm alright. I'm alright," Naruto had to say it twice just to be extra-suspicious. Sasuke clearly didn't buy it. "Just...umm... I don't know what to tell you right now."

Sasuke nodded, holding Naruto's gaze for a second longer before he stood up. "You can tell me later when we go out for ramen."

Naruto frowned. "ramen?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I told my family I'm going to be late today, so they lent me a car. We might as well go into town to get dinner afterwards." Then he paused, looking decidedly uncertain. "You like ramen, right?"

Naruto was fairly sure Sasuke must have bribed one of his friends for that information, but somehow he didn't mind that the raven-haired boy knew about his favorite food. "We're going for Ichiraku's," he said. He thought he caught a smile as Sasuke turned away.

/***/

End of Story :)


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